CWC takes nuanced stand on NRC; clears all-out attack on Rafale deal

NEW DELHI: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday took a nuanced position on the issue over National Register of Citizens (NRC) survey in Assam by demanding the Centre to ensure “all Indians” – be it indigenous Assamese, Hindu Bengalis, Nepalis, Gorkhas, tribes or religious minorities – left out of the NRC list be protected and that only foreigners be deported.

By resolving to start an agitation for the protection of these sections, the Congress has clearly aimed at widening the debate from “Hindu Vs Musim” to “Indians of different faiths in Assam Vs Illegal Bengaldeshi immigrants” as the party has positioned to counter the Modi government’s and BJP’s political plank on the NRC issue.

Sources said that at the CWC meeting former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Goigoi extensively briefed his colleagues about the origin of NRC issue, how his government had gone ahead on the sensitive issue carefully and how, the BJP government was trying to implement it in a “haphazard manner” with the aim of making it a polarisation plank for elections. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also spoke on how his government decided on the NRC issue.

'Modi govt's biggest scam'The CWC also felt the Centre and BJP were raking up the NRC issue with the intention of “shifting the focus ” from “many corruption issues, especially the Rafale fighter jet deal scam”. The CWC, therefore, has also decided to keep the heat on the Modi government on the Rafale issue by making it a focused campaign theme along side agitating for farmers causes.

Former defence minister A K Antony, sources said, gave the CWC an elaborate briefing on the details of the Rafale jet deal, explaining how during his tenure the Indo-France agreement was finalised, and how PM Modi, during his trip to France, “violated” many key provisions in the deal while inking purchase of the Rafale jets on a higher price and by giving the offset dal to a private partner instead of public sector HAL.

The CWC, sources said, concluded Rafale purchase “is a huge scam that leaves PM with no direct answers”, decided “not to let it go” and resolved to launch a major agitation projecting it as “Modi government’s biggest scam”.

While Rahul Gandhi oversaw the deliberations, Sonia Gandhi didn't attend as she was not keeping well.

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UPA deported more Bangladeshis'Owning up NRC “as the baby of the Assam accord signed by Rajiv Gandhi government with AASU and the brain child of Gogoi-Manmohan Singh regimes”, the CWC also pitted the party-led UPA government’s record in deporting illegal Bangladeshi immigrants against that of the Modi regime’s and alleged the BJP government “only talks big and does very little”.

Quoting a Parliamentary reply, AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said at an official briefing that while the Congress-led UPA regime during 2005-13 deported over 82,000 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from Assam, all that the Modi government did from 2014 onwards was to deport just over 1800 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants”.

Surjewala quipped, “This record shows that self-projected nationalists ruling the country today only talk, not act. Why only 1800 odd illegal Bangladeshi migrants were deported during the Modi government’s rule…Were they busy cutting grass?… The Modi regime and BJP are only interested in using the NRC issue to break the social fabric of Assam. The Congress will mobilise people against this?”, he said while briefing the media on the CWC meeting.

The CWC meeting also saw a contingent of Assam Congress leaders including PCC president Ripan Bora, CLP leader Debabrita Saikia and MPs Bhubaneswar Kalita, Sushmita Dev and Gaurav Gogoi articulating their views on the NRC issue.

On the ongoing stir in Maharashtra for “Maratha reservation”, Rahul Gandhi will meet a delegation of Maratha activists next week to hear out their points.

The CWC also accused the government of “allowing scams in banks and not preventing the looters from fleeing India”, citing Mehul Choksi getting Antigua citizenship as an example of the Government’s inaction.

The Congress and other opposition parties are holding a meeting on Monday to decide on unitedly petitioning the election commission, demanding scrapping of EVMs and reintroducing ballot papers.